Black Rock Shooter: Burning Star
by Cryptic Vision
Summary: In a parallel world shared by humans and mysterious beings called other selves, an unknown enemy will rise to corrupt the very world as they wish. In order to combat this new force, the girl with the flaming eye will shoot through the darkness and become a hero of the Otherworld.
1. Beginning of a Typical Day

**Disclaimer: The Black Rock Shooter franchise is owned by Huke.**

* * *

"Geez, is there ever a time when she's not late?"

The young boy asked himself with slight impatience. He continued to watch the many cars driving up and down as he stood near the entrance to his home. The watch on his wrist had just struck 6:30a.m, letting him know that it has already been thirty minutes past the time the girl was supposed to meet him and his sister here. He was adjusting his hat to sit comfortably on top of his blonde head when the little girl next to him with equally blonde hair started to speak.

"Maybe she'll have a really good reason for it this time." She said rather cheerfully.

Her brother just chuckled at the response. "It would definitely be a first, but I can't see that happening anytime soon little sis."

"Ret! Io!" A familiar voice shouted from further down the sidewalk.

The pair turned to the source of the voice and could see a girl running towards them. This girl looked to be in her teens and was wearing her daily clothes consisting of shorts, a bikini top, black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves and a white star on the back, along with gloves and boots. But the two most noticeable things about her was her iconic deep black hair that she kept in uneven twin tails and her blue eyes which looked like radiant sapphires. This was a girl they knew all too well.

She finally reached her destination as she put her hand on her knees and began to pant from breath loss.

"Sorry…I'm…late…guys." She said.

Io walked up to her, keeping her cheerful demeanor. "Go on Stella! Tell Ret the very good reason you took so long!" She said with a smile.

Stella grew nervous after hearing that. She looked over at Ret who simply just stood with his arms crossed and grinning at her.

"Yeah Stella, I'm sure we'd both like to hear your answer."

Stella tried to think of that reason.

"Well. You see I was reading last night about the wonderful facts of… literature… and I sorta lost track of time so I ended up reading till… 3:00. Yeah that's it!" She said with while rubbing the back of her head.

Ret's face was showing strong disbelief of that statement. "So in other words, you stayed up watching movies through most of the night again. Am I right?"

All Stella could do was lower her head in defeat. There was just no hope in trying to fool Ret.

"There's your 'really good reason' Io." He said in a sarcastic tone.

Io giggled.

"Give her a break Ret. She can't really do much against you when it comes to fibbing. I mean you HAVE known her since you both were little."

"Yeah I know. You'd think she would have gotten better at this kinda stuff though." Ret said with a sigh.

Stella grumbled as she puffed her cheeks up. It's not that she's lazy or anything. And besides, doesn't she have the right to have some fun during her evening?

Ret decided to put all that aside and focus on the main intention he had for having Stella come here to meet him and Io. "Come on. It's gonna be a nice day to visit the junkyard so let's not waste enough time."

A groan could be heard from Stella. "Are you kidding me? You went through the trouble of having me run all the way down here just to go to that stinking junkyard again?"

"I thought I told you that yesterday. And you shouldn't insult something as wonderful as a junkyard. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure." He said while waving a finger at her.

Stella rolled her eyes as Io grabbed her arm. "Don't worry Stella. While he tries to find some new materials, you and I can probably find something fun to do while we're there."

"Okay, fine. I don't know how I can't be bored to tears in a place like that but it's better to just go and get this over with now I guess." Stella agreed with hesitation.

Ret grinned. "Good. Now let's get there while it's still early."

They began to make their way to the junkyard as Stella kept her head low in protest.

* * *

Sitting atop the roof of an abandoned building with her legs dangling over the edge was a peculiar looking girl. Apart from her bright red hair, she possessed a pair of curved, red horns on the top of her head. She watched as the people from below moved about their business and cars drove in different directions. As much as she would love to follow in her own activities, she knew that there were more important things to do. After all, she and her friends had a job that needed to be finished.

The sound of a door opening behind her caught her attention. She turned around to see a gold haired girl emerge from the roof entrance. The girl walked closer to her all the while rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly.

"Good morning Chariot. I see your still not used to sleeping away from home." She said to the tired looking girl.

Chariot managed to slowly open her eyes as she responded. "I honestly don't think I ever will. I'm more comfortable with sleeping in my own bed and in a place I know of. But you seem to have adjusted to it just fine, Gold Saw."

Gold Saw shrugged. "I'm not really picky. As long as I have something nice to sleep on I'm out like a light bulb."

"I can definitely see that. But could you please not use my stomach as a pillow next time?" Chariot asked.

Gold Saw laughed softly at the question. "Sorry about that. I tend to move around sometimes when I sleep. How are the other two doing down there?" She asked.

Chariot put her hand on her hip. "Strength is up and about as well so I told her to go wake Dead Master while I came to see you."

Gold Saw raised an eyebrow and thought to herself quietly. 'Strength waking somebody else up? I have a bad feeling about this.'

Suddenly, there came a sound of yelling from inside.

"Wake the hell up already!"

A loud thud followed closely after.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"For being so damn lazy!"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not lazy!"

Chariot sighed. "Now that I think about it, maybe that wasn't such a good idea."

Gold Saw sweat dropped. "Probably not. We should head down there and try to knock some sense into them."

"I'll meet you there. Wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun." Chariot said jokingly as she walked over to the door and entered inside.

Gold Saw stood up and took a quick glimpse at the distant sun rising over the horizon before following after Chariot.

'I wonder. Could the target really be here or are we just wasting our time?' She thought as she walked through the entrance.

* * *

_AN: Well, this is the first chapter of my first ever fanfic story. Not too shabby for a newbie don't ya think? Anyway, read & review I guess and let me know what you guys think so far._


	2. Booting Up

**Disclaimer: The Black Rock Shooter franchise is owned by Huke.**

"How much longer until Black Rock Shooter is fully operational, corporal?"

"Sorry for the delay, captain. We're finishing up with a few things before we can start the boot-up process. It will only be a minute or so, and then the weapon will be completely functional." The corporal said with a confident look.

"Speed it up. I want this weapon prepped and in our control before any unwanted guest could possibly show up." The captain ordered.

He turned to the main computers in front of him, looking at the on-screen status of Black Rock Shooter. The screen read that all of the weapon's systems were nearly operational, or at least he assumed it to be a weapon seeing as there were no vital signs coming from within the capsule. But frankly, this really was at the bottom of his concerns for the moment. Normally he would be back at HQ located in another region, helping out with whatever he was capable of doing. But for today he had been told by his superiors that they had been given secret information from the higher ups about some kind of weapon discovered in an abandoned research facility in a mildly populated town. So of course, he and his squad were assigned with the mission of acquiring this so called weapon and bringing it back with them due to their qualification.

'How exactly are we "qualified" for this? The answer to that is quite simple actually. There is no qualification for this! They were just looking for an excuse to get rid of us so that we would miss out on all the fun assignments.' He thought to himself with a disgruntled look on his face.

"If it's fine for me to ask captain, what exactly is so important about this weapon? I mean is it some kind of groundbreaking device that will give us a huge advantage over the enemy?" The newest member of his squad, the rookie, asked.

"Sorry rookie, but I can't really tell you anything because I myself don't know either. What I do know is that the leaders at HQ supposedly want this weapon, codenamed Black Rock Shooter, obtained at any cost before it falls into the wrong hands."

"That sounds kinda suspicious to me. How come they can't be straightforward with this whole thing? Would it even matter that much if we lost this weapon? Cause it doesn't seem very vital to me, whatever it is."

"You can tell that to them once we get back. I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible."

"If you say so captain."

"Sir, we've finished up with all the preparations and have just activated the boot-up process. It will only take a few minutes to complete." The lieutenant announced.

The captain nodded. "Good enough I suppose. Well done."

"But I have also become aware of a little problem that has occurred."

"What is it now?" The Captain said with annoyance.

"I've detected four unknown signatures approaching our destination and they don't appear to be human." He said, pointing at his handheld radar.

"That's just great. Everyone! Move to your defense stations! Wait for my signal to fire but don't let any damage come to Black Rock Shooter! We just need to hold off while this thing boots up!"

* * *

"I'm telling you Gold Saw, something is off about this place. Why did you even bring us here?" Chariot fretted.

"Don't worry. I've already said that I'll tell explain everything to you all once we get back home. All you need to know now is that our target is most likely in this next room. Once we get our hands on it, it should benefit our needs greatly." Gold Saw said while messing with the door controls.

"First of all, it's YOUR target since you were the one who insisted on dragging the rest of us all the way out to some abandoned facility on the outskirts of that town we came to. And second of all, can you at least tell us what this target of yours is?"

"That's what I'm trying to find." Gold Saw claimed.

"How could you possibly not know yourself!?" Chariot asked, slowly losing her patience.

"Hey. I can't have all the details in the world. Aw crap. These doors are locked down with a password. Any guesses?" Gold Saw directed at everyone.

"Nope." Chariot said.

"No." Strength added with a blank expression.

"Sorry. No help here." Dead Master said, rubbing the back of her head.

Gold Saw sighed. "Then I guess we'll have to use a different tactic. Hey Dead, think you could cut through this with your scythe?"

Dead Master grinned. "Watch and learn. Yours truly will show you how it's done."

Summoning her scythe, she gripped the handle as tight as she could and slashed through the metal doors with ease. She chuckled as they fell out of place.

"Am I awesome or what?" She boasted.

"Oh yeah I've never seen anyone cut down some rotting doors before. Aren't you just SO awesome?" Strength joked.

Dead Master stuck her tongue out at Strength while walking into the room. "Someone's jeal-"

The sound of a gunshot cut her off as a bullet flew inches away from her head, hitting the wall. She came to a halt to look at the source and saw a squad of four soldiers armed and aiming their weapons at her. They were all wearing silver body armor and helmets so it was impossible to see their faces, but she could feel a cold glare being given to her by their leader.

The other three rushed by her side expecting her to a little shocked, but instead found anger written all over her face.

"Hey watch the hair, you jerks! Hit it, and I can't guarantee that any of you will live to see another day!" She shouted at them which earned her an eye roll from everyone next to her.

"That was a warning shot. And I don't think you have any room to threaten us, other self. Now drop your weapon." The captain ordered. Though hesitant at first, she submitted and let go of the scythe, grumbling as it hit the ground.

"Now tell me, what in the hell are you freaks doing here?"

"I heard that there was something of great interest here. Something that my group and I can put to good use. And judging from your being here and holding us at gun point, it would seem that I was right, wouldn't you say?" Gold Saw said, looking at the captain with huge suspicions.

'Hmmm. Looks like they don't exactly know about Black Rock Shooter yet.' The captain thought to himself.

"I'd be lying if I said otherwise, but there's no way that I can tell you what that something is because that is classified information."

"If it's classified, how is it that one of us was able to find out?" Strength asked.

"Sounds like you guys really suck at keeping things secret huh?" Dead Master added.

"Shut up! As a captain of SENTINEL I shall not be spoken to like that! We're the best of the best at our job and no one will ever top us!" The captain responded, frustration grinding his nerves.

"Don't lose your temper at us. You guys just had a slip up. Loose lips sink ships right?" Gold Saw smirked.

Chariot sighed. "Honestly. I can't believe you got us into this whole situation."

"Anyway, we didn't come here to start any trouble. So if you don't mind, please give us whatever is in that capsule behind you and we'll be on our way." Gold Saw assured.

"You think that I'm just gonna hand this thing over just because you asked nicely?"

Gold Saw shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"Captain. Why don't we just let them take them have it? Is it really worth all of this trouble? Because frankly I don't see why we should even be doing this. We have no clue as to what is so important about Black…" The rookie was suggesting but stopped when the captain turned his gun on him.

"Rookie. I don't think you want an 'accidental' bullet shot in your ass, right?" The captain asked in a grim manner sending chills down the rook's spine.

"N-n-no sir." The rookie trembled in fear.

"Then keep quiet." He ordered.

The rookie shrank back in defeat at the hands of his superior.

"Black what? Is there something we should know?" Gold Saw inquired.

The captain turned to face the girls. "No. It doesn't concern any of you freaks." He answered coldly.

Dead Master crossed her arms. "Hmph. No respect for us other selves I see. Did one kick dirt in your eyes at the playground when you were little or something?" She huffed out.

Chariot glared at Dead Master. "And you wonder why you make enemies."

"What? I'm just asking. Nothing wrong with that is there?"

"True, but you seem to have forgotten the fact that they have GUNS aimed at our heads."

"But we're other selves. We're more resilient to pain than normal humans. Sure we can still die, get injured or wounded, and it still hurts….A lot….But we can still take it better than humans."

"That's not what you said when Strength kicked you in the stomach this morning."

"But that like really hurt…A lot!"

Inside the captain's helmet, a vein appeared on his head as his patience wearied thin.

"Enough of this! As of now you four are in the custody of SENTINEL. We will be bringing you back to HQ for further questioning. Do you object?"

Strength raised an eyebrow. "Is that a rhetorical question?" She asked. The captain growled.

"Captain, We have a little issue on our hands." The Lieutenant informed him.

"What is it now!?" He shouted.

The lieutenant pointed at the main computer screen. Near the bottom corner on the right, a small timer had just reached zero.

'Crap! I forgot about Black Rock Shooter!' The captain thought to himself.

"Captain! Behind you! The capsule is..." The rookie said frantically.

The captain looked towards the capsule to see what the rookie was rambling about and instead found a mysterious blue light emitting from within it, forcing everyone to protect their eyes.

"Shit!" He yelled out.

"Sir! I can't see!" The rookie screamed. In a state of panic he accidentally held the trigger to his gun and fired several shots in a random direction.

The corporal became worried at the gunshots. "Don't shoot that thing at us!"

"What is that?" Chariot asked as she buried her face within her hands.

"Don't worry about that now. Just hold your ground." Gold Saw stated, shielding her eyes with one arm.

The light grew larger in size until it engulfed the entirety of the room within it's radiance.

* * *

Stella grasped hold of her head as a sharp pain began from within it. She felt as if something had been hammering inside it again and again in an endless loop. She found herself brought to her knees, struggling to get back up.

'What is this? My head…Hurts…So much.' She thought.

Forcing herself to look up she became shocked at what was happening before her. Everything from the cars driving up and down the street, the buildings standing tall and strong, the people around her, the blue sky from above. All were vanishing. With each passing second, anything around her was slowly disappearing into nothingness. It was if the world itself was ceasing to exist.

All Stella could do was watch, powerless to do anything, the pain in her head refusing to subside. 'Why is…This happening? Am I…About to…Die?'

"Hm. Well it looks like our job is finally done." A voice spoke to her. She turned to see Ret and Io standing by her side, smiling down at her.

Stella wanted to find out for sure if this wasn't just a trick of the mind. "Io…Ret…Do you see it…The world is…"

"Vanishing? Yes, we see it too. And why are you on the ground like that? The pain shouldn't have lasted that long, you can stand up now." Ret admonished.

Stella then realized that the pain that was drilling at her head had suddenly ended, as if it was never there. But how did Ret know about it and if he truly was witnessing what she saw, why wasn't he afraid?

"This…Is really happening? Isn't it?" She asked as she stood herself back up.

"No silly. You're just about to wake up." Io giggled.

"Wake up? So this is a dream?"

"What Io is trying to say is that the reason everything around you is disappearing is because none of it was real to begin with. This whole world is the product of an illusion created by a false memory." Ret affirmed.

"A false memory?"

"That's right, a memory that never happened. And you've been living in it for a long time."

Stella honestly didn't know what to think about this. Nothing really made sense anymore. So all of her time spent growing up and living in this town has been a lie? Was there really no worth in all of this? She frowned as the world grew emptier with each passing minute.

"What's with the sad look? This isn't the end, you're gonna wake up after this is over. Have you even listened to anything we said?" Ret asked, crossing his arms.

" What do you mean by that? I'm already awake." Stella insured.

"That's where you're wrong. This here isn't you. Well, it is you, but you're not really here. Your physical body is sleeping inside a special capsule that was designed to keep you in stasis, and that is where you have remained for many years. This false memory was created by program that was made to help monitor your growth overtime and make sure that no harm comes to you. You may think that you grew up here, but in reality, this town doesn't even exist."

"But…why was I put here in stasis?"

"I don't really have an answer for you. You'd have to ask whoever was responsible for creating us."

"Create? So does that mean you and Io are…"

"Yep. We're the main components that make up this program. We never were your childhood friends."

Stella continued to frown upon hearing that last sentence. "I see."

Io grabbed hold of Stella's hands and tried to brighten her mood. "Don't feel sad Stella! Just because we aren't you childhood friends doesn't mean we were never friends with you from the start." She said cheerfully.

"She's right about that. You turned out to be a pretty cool kid being carefree and all. You made our job of playing babysitter more exciting over the past years as they went on. Thanks for that. Ret admitted.

Stella felt some of her sadness drift away as she cracked a small smile. "Thank you both. For watching over me."

"Like we really had a choice?" Ret teased, causing Stella to chuckle a bit.

"I think we've held you back here long enough. It's time to send you on your way, along with those other ones." Io said as she released Stella's hands.

"Other ones? What other ones?" Stella asked, confused by that phrase.

Ret grinned while tugging at his hat. "You'll find out once you awaken. Oh, and do me and my sis a favor would ya?"

Stella looked at him curiously, wondering what he had to say.

"Live your life for real this time."

This was the last thing Stella heard before her mind faded to black.

*ERROR: SUSTAINING OF THE SUBJECT'S MEMORIES HAS FAILED*

* * *

Once the light had suddenly ended, the four other selves discovered that they were somehow taken to a new location. The wind was blowing softly, the sky above them was blue as all can be and the ground beneath them strangely represented that of chessboards.

"Okay. What just happened?" Dead Master asked.

"We seem to have been teleported away from the facility." Strength answered.

"But…How is that possible? And what was the deal with that light?" Chariot added.

"Aw hell. I wasn't able to obtain what that capsule was holding. I was SO close!" Gold Saw grumbled.

"That should be the least of your worries now! Thanks to you we nearly got arrested and now we've been sent…Home." Chariot stammered.

Standing a fair distance behind them was a small, citadel-like building, which looked to be abandoned and somewhat rundown. It definitely hasn't aged well with time at all. But to Gold Saw, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed if given enough effort.

Dead Master grinned as she began to speak again. "Well, at least we didn't have to walk all the way back home. And look on the bright side. We've escaped in one piece, we aren't being arrested, we're safe, and we even managed to save this girl I'm holding right now."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WAIT, WHAT!?"

The others looked towards Dead Master and sure enough, there really was a girl in her arms, sleeping as if nothing had happened. The girl looked to be about the same age as them, but the one thing about her that they all noted was her black hair that was tied into uneven pigtails somehow.

"Well…This is unexpected." Was all that Gold Saw could say.

"Who is she?" Strength asked calmly.

"A better question would be 'where did she come from." Chariot added.

"H-hey! I can't just stand here like this all day! What the heck are we supposed to do with her!?" Dead Master exclaimed.

They looked back and forth between one another, unsure of what should become of the sleeping girl.

Gold Saw sighed. "I guess all we can really do for now is to bring her inside with us."

"Why should we? We haven't the slightest idea of who or what she is. She could very well be a danger to our home." Strength objected.

"She doesn't look like the typical bad guy type. In fact, she looks relatively more harmless than dangerous. Besides, we can't just leave her out here." Chariot said.

"Why not?"

"Because that is just downright crude!"

"How about this. We take her in and let her rest up, then when she wakes up we find out more about her, and if she tries anything, then we'll kick her out. Sound good?" Gold Saw suggested.

"Fine" Strength muttered.

"Works for me" Chariot replied.

"…"

"Dead Master! Stop staring at her chest!" Gold Saw snapped. But at the same time she also noticed how flat chested the girl was.

"I can't believe it." Dead Master began. "She may be even more of a flatty then Strength." She finished.

Just then, a sudden sound erupted loudly through the sky. The sound of a fist hitting someone square in the head.

* * *

AN: Finally finished with the second chapter. I figured that I would take things slowly first in this story until we get to the big parts. Sorry if I confused anyone with this chapter. More will be explained as we go on. So for now, I hope you enjoy this latest entry.


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